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IBRAHIM, A FATE TO DEFINE

( 2019 )
Feature Documentary Competition |
 
Lebanon
,
Palestine
,
Denmark
,
Slovenia
 |
 Arabic |
 75 min

About the film

Lina was only six years old when her father, Ibrahim, set off on what should have been a short  mission in 1987, never to return. A member of the Abu Nidal group, also known as “The  Revolutionary Council,” Ibrahim's past has since haunted Lina’s family. Today, Ibrahim, A Fate to Define serves as an open letter to the father Lina never really knew. The film explores how a father's decision can affect their children’s life choices, even in their adult years.

Director

Lina Al Abed

Born in 1980 to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother, Lina Alabed graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Damascus University. After working on her graduation film—a 52-minute portrait of a Syrian author—she started her career as a journalist. She was involved in several projects that address women’s issues in the Middle East. Her short documentary, Nour Alhuda (2010), was granted the Dox Box Jury Award as Best Syrian Film. Her first feature-length documentary Damascus, My First Kiss (2012) premiered at the 2012 DOK Leipzig. Her latest film Ibrahim, A Fate to Define (2019) was screened in the TIFF Docs section of the 44th Toronto International Film Festival.

Producer

Rami El Nihawi

Production Company

SakaDo, Idioms Film

Screenplay

Lina Al Abed, Rami El Nihawi

Cinematography

Rami El Nihawi

Editing

Rami El Nihawi, Nabil Mehchi

Sound

Roar Skau Olsen

Cast

Contacts

Producer

Rami El Nihawi

Production Company

SakaDo, Idioms Film

Screenplay

Lina Al Abed, Rami El Nihawi

Cinematography

Rami El Nihawi

Editing

Rami El Nihawi, Nabil Mehchi

Sound

Roar Skau Olsen

Cast

Contacts

More About Film

In 1987, when Lina Alabed was six years old, her Palestinian father Ibrahim set off on a short mission. He never came back. He was a member of the Abu Nidal group, also known as ‘The Revolutionary Council’, and her father’s past is still haunting the family. His disappearance was not something that was talked about – until now. Lina Alabed’s film has to a great extent become a letter to a father she never really knew, but it is also a warm and personal family tale with temperament and character. Camera in hand, Lina has broken down the walls between herself, her Egyptian mother and the rest of her large family. Even though Alabed leafs backwards in the family album to find answers to her father’s disappearance, her film mostly lives in the present. And where other films about family traumas are sentimental from the start, ‘Ibrahim’ is a story that also makes way for laughter and a liberating look at the individual differences that make up a family. The big question, however, is still how the father’s decision has affected the adult Lina’s own life choices.

Producer

Rami El Nihawi

Production Company

SakaDo, Idioms Film

Screenplay

Lina Al Abed, Rami El Nihawi

Cinematography

Rami El Nihawi

Editing

Rami El Nihawi, Nabil Mehchi

Sound

Roar Skau Olsen

More About Film

In 1987, when Lina Alabed was six years old, her Palestinian father Ibrahim set off on a short mission. He never came back. He was a member of the Abu Nidal group, also known as 'The Revolutionary Council', and her father's past is still haunting the family. His disappearance was not something that was talked about - until now. Lina Alabed's film has to a great extent become a letter to a father she never really knew, but it is also a warm and personal family tale with temperament and character. Camera in hand, Lina has broken down the walls between herself, her Egyptian mother and the rest of her large family. Even though Alabed leafs backwards in the family album to find answers to her father's disappearance, her film mostly lives in the present. And where other films about family traumas are sentimental from the start, 'Ibrahim' is a story that also makes way for laughter and a liberating look at the individual differences that make up a family. The big question, however, is still how the father's decision has affected the adult Lina's own life choices.